2x05 - The Doctor
By Amy Degenstein-Hood
In this week’s episode, we got to see more into Regina’s past and some of the pieces of why she became “The Evil Queen” fell into place. We also, finally, learned the true identity of one of Storybrooke’s most mysterious characters, Dr. Whale.
We begin in FTL where Emma, Snow, Mulan and Aurora return to the camp to find everyone dead, their hearts ripped out. They realize that Cora must be responsible, and as they search they find one survivor. He appears to be badly shaken and afraid. As we finally see his face, we realize it is Hook.
In SB, Dr. Whale finds David/Charming to talk to him about the fate of the other realms. David turns and punches him square in the jaw, still angry over the one night stand with Snow. This seems to get the awkward anger out of his system and he sits to talk with Whale. We then see Regina going to see Archie/Jiminy. She is seeking help for her struggle to not use magic. Whale bursts in the door, demanding to be sent back to his land, and back to his brother. He says that his brother is dead, and he needs to get back to him. Regina tells him she can’t help him, and that she only brought the living with her to this land. Archie kicks Whale out, but then asks Regina if she has been entirely truthful. He knows she brought her father’s grave, and he asks if she brought anyone else’s. He asks for her trust, and tells her that to stop using magic may be harder than starting.
In a flashback of FTL, we see Rumple teaching a younger Regina how to use magic. They are working with a binding spell, which Regina is able to subdue a black unicorn with. She is pleased until Rumple then instructs her to rip out its heart. Rumple tells her that a creature will be unharmed, but in her control if she takes their heart. He demonstrates, and tells her that hearts have been removed become stronger, and enchanted. He tosses the heart to Regina and tells her to crush it and kill the unicorn. She can’t do it. We then see her standing over Daniel’s body, which has been preserved in a glass coffin by an enchantment spell.
We then see Regina, very sad, telling Archie a bit about Daniel. She sheds a tear, and becomes uncomfortable with being so vulnerable. She leaves despite a storm outside. As she is driving, she sees Daniel standing on a street corner. The lightning flashes and he is gone. The next day, we see Charming and Henry at the stables. Charming is showing Henry his new steed, and tells him that he will begin training as a knight. Henry is excited to ride, but finds out he has to build his bond with his horse first before they can ride. Charming leaves Henry to care for the horse while he goes to check in out the Dwarves. In the cemetery, we see Regina go into her vault. She flings open a door, and looks shocked that the glass coffin is empty.
Flashback to past FTL, we see Rumple and Regina talking about magic. Regina wants to learn magic to bring the dead back, so that she and Daniel can be together. Rumple tells her it is not possible. The Hatter comes in and offers up a crystal ball to Rumple. (This could be both the ball that sits atop Maleficent’s staff, and also the crystal ball used by the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz) Rumple asks if Jefferson/Hatter was able to get the slippers as well. (Certainly referring to the Ruby Slippers) but Jefferson says they were already moved to another land. Rumple says he needed them to get to another land, and Jefferson offers to take him via his hat. Rumple says that is not possible, Jefferson’s hat can only take people between magical realms, not to a land without magic. Rumple tells Jefferson to take as much gold as he wants, and then tells Regina to leave. He says he can’t teach her while she lives in the past. As Rumple leaves, Jefferson tells Regina he knows a man who is a wizard, and can bring back the dead. Jefferson wants a pass to travel freely in Regina’s kingdom in return for his help.
In current FTL, we see Hook being questioned by Emma. He paints a sad story of how he had to hide to save himself from Cora. Emma knows that he is lying. They tie him to a tree and yell loudly to attract the ogres. Hook continues to profess his innocence until the ogres get very close. He then admits that he is Captain Hook. He tells them that Cora wanted him to gain their trust in order to find a compass that will help her get to Storybrooke. Emma asks why Hook wants to travel there, and she believes him when he tells her it is to get revenge on Rumple.
Back in SB during the storm, Regina goes to find Dr. Whale. His operating room is completely torn apart. The lights are flickering and flashing. Regina pulls back a cover and finds a bloody arm. She searches and eventually finds Whale lying in the floor. His arm has been ripped off. He confesses that he brought Daniel back from the dead, but that he is not himself. Whale says that he is a monster now. Whale is taken to the hospital. Regina and Charming talk about what has happened. She tells him about Daniel being brought back. She says Whale practices something more powerful than magic. She doesn’t know whose heart Whale took. Regina says (as she said originally about her mother) that she has taken so many hearts she can’t know whose they are. Regina tells Charming that Daniel will be headed for the stables, which is where they spent their last moments together in FTL before her mother killed him. Charming tells her that Henry is at the stable alone, and they rush off to find him. We then see Henry, grooming his horse, and Daniel enters the stall. Henry reaches to try and help Daniel, but Daniel is seeing flashes of Cora reaching to rip out his heart and he grabs Henry abound the throat.
In past FTL, Jefferson introduces Regina to a man we recognize as Dr. Whale. She says “You’re the wizard?” He rises and says he prefers to be called Doctor. He rises and we see him dressed a long steam punk type coat, and John Lennon round glasses. Regina takes him to Daniel’s body, which the Doctor says is in perfect condition to attempt reanimation. He admits he has never succeeded, but that with the enchanted hearts he has heard are in this land, he is confident it will work. Regular hearts are too weak to withstand the procedure. Regina is desperate to have Daniel back, so she takes the Doctor to her mother’s vault of hearts. She says her mother took too many hearts to keep track of who they belonged to. I have a feeling that the hearts, whether Regina’s or Cora’s will come into play with the OZ stories/ Tin Man as that begins to play out. He was after all, in search of a heart.
Back in the stable in SB, Regina and Charming rush in and save Henry from Daniel. Charming wants to destroy him, but Regina begs him to let her see him and speak to him. She doesn’t want to use magic on him. She is crying and pleading with Charming. Finally he agrees.
In past FTL, we see the Doctor’s shadow through the side of a tent. Lightning flashes and he appears to try and put the heart into Daniel. He comes out and tells Regina that he failed; he was unable to bring Daniel back. Regina walks slowly into the tent, and weeps on Daniels chest.
In SB, Regina opens the stall door and smiles at seeing Daniel alive again. He grabs her throat, but when she says she loves him, he snaps out of it for a moment. They embrace. He is writhing in pain. He begs her to help him, to let him go. He says it is the only way to be free from his horrible pain. She says she can’t let him go, that she loves him. He holds her face and says “Then love again.. Regina is crying and Daniel again becomes more the monster than the man. He appears not to recognize her again. He reaches for her throat and she casts the binding spell we say at the beginning with the unicorn. Sobbing and with her hand on his, she waves her hand and he vanishes. She says “Goodbye, Daniel”, and he is gone.
In current FTL, we see Hook has lead the group to a beanstalk reaching into the sky. Hook says it is not the climb they have to worry about, it is the giant at the top.
In a flashback SB, we see Regina approach Rumple while he is teaching another woman magic. He says he needed someone more dedicated than her. Regina reaches and pulls the woman’s heart out. Rumple is pleased. Later, Jefferson and the Doctor meet up with Rumple. Rumple says he is happy with their work. The Doctor never tried to save Daniel. It was all a ruse to break Regina’s heart even more so that she would move forward with her training. The Doctor is given the heart which he said he needs to bring his brother back in his land. He argues briefly with Rumple about magic vs. Science. Rumple says he has a feeling that the Doctor will see it his way soon. Now that the Doctor has helped Rumple create his “monster” in Regina, he bids him farewell.
In SB, Whale goes to Rumple, asking for him to reattach his arm. Rumple finds it amusing that the science used in a hospital is not the method the doctor chose for healing. He makes Whale say that he needs magic. Whale says he only brought Daniel back because he thought Regina would help him get back to his brother in his old land so that he could try and bring his back again. Suddenly Whale’s arm is reattached. “Always nice doing business with you, Victor”, Rumple says to Whale after reattaching his arm. Victor Frankenstein, an iconic Doctor from literature, is Whale’s true identity. In a bit of a hint from earlier, James Whale was also the name of the man who directed the Frankenstein movie.
In the Doctor’s land (which is black and white), we see him perform the experiment to bring a dead man back to life. Both the beginning of Wizard of Oz and the old Frankenstein movies were in black and white. I’m not sure if this will tie in, but it would be an interesting twist. I’m wondering if Whale has more than one identity. The way that Rumple is Beast and Crocodile, perhaps Whale is both Frankenstein and The Wizard of Oz?
The lightning flashes as the storm rages. We see a hand rise up and hold the doctor’s hand. “Welcome back brother”, he says as he smiled down. Igor says to the doctor that it is like magic, to which he replies, “No. It’s science.”
